Here and Now
by SiuanSedai
Summary: Yuffie was a here and now person, the past and the future were irrelevant as long as the present was fun. Sora, on the other hand, was the exact opposite, and opposites don't always attract. 100situations prompt 7 Friend


**100situations prompt #7 - Friend**

Yuffie Kisaragi had always been independent. When her world was destroyed and she lost everything she once knew, she had quickly adapted to her new surroundings. In Traverse Town she'd met a few good friends who were all in the same situation as she was; she'd quickly bonded with the group and although at first glance you wouldn't understand why this motley collection of people had stuck together, because they were all so completely different, after a while Yuffie had realised that they had bonded because of their one shared trait: independence.

Nearly everyone who came to Traverse Town joined a group of friends because they wanted support, companionship and shared ideals. They threw themselves into the trade their friends had embraced, be it waitressing or carpentry or shopkeeping, and abandoned the careers of their old lives in order to fit in with the people who shared their new one.

Yuffie would never have done that. Cid had been the first person she found when she came to the town; there was no way the blond man would have dropped his hobby of tinkering with things. And in turn, there was no way Yuffie was going to put down her sword and devote her life to building gummi ships. No effing way. And in turn, there was no way Aerith would have become a ninja warrior when she met Yuffie, and Leon would probably prefer to disappear into oblivion with his world than become soft, gentle and motherly. And as much as they all looked up to Merlin's wisdom and command of magic (and ability to grow his beard that long without getting any split ends) not one of them would be dressing up in blue robes and studying spell books all day long, either.

Yuffie wouldn't have given up her personality for anything, but sometimes when she saw pairs and groups of people laughing and chatting together she wondered what it would be like to have true _friends_ here in this world. She had companions, certainly – wonderful caring companions who she'd die for without a second thought and who would do the same for her – but she didn't really have _friends_. She and Aerith didn't giggle or gossip or style each other's hair, she'd never had a deep philosophical conversation with Cid and she didn't think she'd ever heard Leon laugh. Yuffie knew that if she was upset none of them would hesitate to comfort her, but she wasn't sure that if she _was_ upset she'd actually let them see her cry.

One day, Leon had beaten up a teenage boy and brought him back to Yuffie's room in the hotel, stating that this unconscious brunette was the wielder of the Keyblade. Yuffie had expected the boy to fit right in with them: unique, interesting, but independent. And then he'd called her by another girl's name, and sounded so worried and happy and almost desperate to know she was safe, and Yuffie had realised right then that he could never truly fit into their little gang.

She knew it had been a stupid thought. How many people had she met here in Traverse Town, and how many of those had been like she, Leon and the rest? It wasn't a favourable ratio when you wanted a new companion.

Still, Yuffie had convinced herself that the wielder of the Keyblade would be just like her. If she was honest with herself, she admitted that she was lonely. She didn't want a friend, but she did want somebody to love and to love her in return. And who was more likely to be her soulmate than a fierce warrior?

Sora wasn't a warrior, though. He wasn't fierce and he didn't sleep with the Keyblade strapped onto the waistband of his pyjamas and he was too connected to his friends to be like Yuffie. Yuffie's loyalty to those she cared for paled in comparison to Sora's, because hadn't she accepted the loss of her friends and family when her world disappeared? Yet the first word out of Sora's mouth was the name of his closest female friend, the girl he was obviously in love with, and he was more interested in finding Kairi and Riku than saving the worlds.

Yuffie and Sora were opposites: black and white, chalk and cheese, Maleficent and Aerith. Opposites attract, but they weren't the type of opposite that match. Black and white mixed fine to produce grey, chalk and cheese produced mature crumbly Wensleydale when combined, and the image of Maleficent wearing pink would make even the most sour person smile. But Yuffie and Sora could never be happy together, because they wanted such different things.

Skipping over the fact that Sora wanted Kairi, Yuffie knew he wanted a friend as well as a girlfriend; someone to chat to and laugh with and have random conversations that ranged from one-legged octopi to the meaning of life. Sora needed someone who knew him inside out and back to front, and Yuffie didn't. Yuffie was a _here and now_ person: it wouldn't matter if her husband never knew if she had siblings, a pet cat or a preference for blue toothpaste in her old world. As long as he loved her and she loved him, Yuffie would be happy.

Yuffie knew that she could never fall in love with Sora and that Sora would never love her as anything more than a friend. But as inexplicable and pointless and silly it was, Yuffie always felt a sharp pain latch onto her heartstrings and pull tight whenever she thought about Sora. Because it hurt to know that she could never truly love him.

* * *

I don't know where the angst bunny came from, considering the fact that I almost always write fluff.


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